Irish Times Editorial: South Africa Loses

A great opportunity was lost yesterday to spread the
benefits of sports internationalism more evenly around the
world when FIFA voted against awarding the 2006 soccer World
Cup to South Africa in favour of Germany. The dramatic final
vote, in which the New Zealand delegate abstained despite
his mandate to support South Africa, will go down in
sporting history as a prime example of how politics and
sport have become intertwined. He has a lot of explaining to
do - and so have the Asian and European countries who
refused to shift towards opening up opportunities for the
game in a relatively new sporting environment.

This is the
thirteenth occasion on which the World Cup has been held in
the richer part of the world. In South Africa disappointed
commentators were scathing in their denunciation of the
game's commercialisation, which they saw clearly as tilting
the balance against them. Germany has undoubtedly a solid
case for holding the event, with the most developed
facilities and a mature sporting public backing it up. It
was well ahead of the case put up by England on both counts,
even without the telling absence of hooliganism and violence
that has recently once again sullied that country's record
during the European championships. South Africa put up a
most convincing argument for hosting the World Cup. Its
facilities and infrastructure have been prepared over a
number of years, in anticipation of a favourable decision.
An immense national effort went into the campaign,
attracting much good will around the world. Accepting the
fact that sport and politics are so closely linked, the bid
became a symbol of the country's determination to make its
mark internationally. Despite reservations about the levels
of crime it appeared sufficient FIFA delegates were willing
to take the risk by plumping for a location with so much to
recommend it. The New Zealand abstention in the third round
of voting gave the decision to Germany by 12 votes to 11,
thereby avoiding a tied vote, in which the FIFA chairman had
said he would use his casting vote for South Africa. He may
well have overplayed his hand, as observers detected an
overhanging resentment by Asian delegates over his refusal
to increase their representation last year. Once again it is
confirmed that in international sport memories are long,
pockets deep and factionalism is rampant. That has made for
a regrettable decision on this occasion.

In response to the challenges facing Scoop and the media industry we’ve instituted an Ethical Paywall to keep the news freely available to the public.
People who use Scoop for work need to be licensed through a ScoopPro subscription under this model, they also get access to exclusive news tools.

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C will require “far-reaching and unprecedented changes,” such as ditching coal for electricity to slash carbon emissions, says a special report that finds some of the actions needed are already under way, but the world must move faster… More>>

Oxfam and its local partners are standing by to deploy emergency staff and resources to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, as an estimated 1.5 million people are thought to be affected by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit on Friday. More>>

“This is a great day for India and for all those who believe in the universality of human rights," Bachelet said. "With this landmark decision, the Indian Supreme Court has taken a big step forward for freedom and equality...” More>>